Dr. William A. Johnson

Perrysville Community Honors Country Doctor after 50 Years in Medical
Profession By Dale Foster - about 1956

A family physician was honored Sunday as the Perrysville community turned
out 4,000 strong for “Dr. Johnson Day.” More than 700 of 2,500 babies
delivered by Dr. W. A. Johnson were on hand to help him celebrate his
50 years in the medical profession. Seated with the doctor on the platform
erected for the occasion on the Perrysville School grounds were a host
of dignitaries including Indiana Congresswoman Cecil Harden. Master
of Ceremonies was Dr. Harlan English of Danville 8th District Council
of the American Medical Association. A telegram from President Dwight
D. Eisenhower said that White House joins the community in honoring
the career of Dr. Johnson and noted the importance of the country doctor
in the American way of life. Dr. English also read a message from Vice
Present and Mrs. Richard Nixon who paid tribute to the service given
by Dr. Johnson and his wife, the former Nell G. Shute, a Perrysville
High School teacher at the time of their marriage in 1916. Mrs. Harden
saluted the doctor as a skilled surgeon, an esteemed friend, and a true
American and said, “his record over 50 years is truly an inspiration
to us.”

Welcoming address was by Cortz Jones who noted Dr. Johnson was
born near Coal Creek, Indiana and attended the Perrysville School, completing
his schoolwork in three years. After 2 ½ years as a schoolteacher in
the area, he was urged to complete the study of medicine by the hospital
staff at the state reformatory in Jeffersonville where he taught for
three years. President of his class at Loyola University, he served
his internship in the Columbus Memorial Hospital in Chicago and opened
his practice in Perrysville in the office previously occupied by the
late Dr. F. E. Saunders. Dr. Johnson’s first patient was Mrs. Mary Fox
Burnett. The first baby he attended at birth was Lee Wilson who was
presented during the program. Youngest of “Dr. Johnson’s babies” was
one born last week to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Coleman.

In the early days of
his practice, Dr. Johnson used a horse and buggy, often fording the
swollen creeks to reach country patients. He waded many streams not
then spanned by bridges. Jones remarked, mentioning his bride-to-be
often stood at the window in the school building watching the doctor
as he rowed across the swift Wabash. The couple’s only child, Harriet
Ellen, was killed near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Jones also revealed the
honored guest worked nights in the Perrysville telephone exchange to
pay for his high school graduation and operated a steam shovel in the
construction of the second track by the C & EI Railroad to finance his
medical training. The doctor was master for five years of Unity Lodge
344, F & AM, of which he is still a member. He also belongs to the Zorah
Temple of the Shrine in Terre Haute; the Knights of Pythias in Perrysville;
Evergreen Lodge IOOF; Society of Indiana Pioneers; Sons of the American
Revolution, and is a past patron of Perrysville Chapter 302, Order of
Eastern Star. A plaque was presented to Dr. Johnson by Dr. M. C. Topping
of Terre Haute, president-elect of the Indiana Medical Society, describing
the doctor’s practice as “with one foot in the fertile fields of Indiana
with the other in the industry of Danville with the Wabash River flowing
between them.”

Dr. Lawrence De Renne, president of the Parke-Vermillion
Medical Society, congratulated Dr. and Mrs. Johnson as did Drs. E. M.
Dewhirst and Everett M. Laury of Danville, presidents of the staff at
St. Elizabeth and Lake View Hospitals respectively. Three vocal numbers
by the Lake View Hospital nurses chorus directed by Mrs. James Rose
Acton and selections by the Zorah Shrine Brass Band provided musical
salutes. The Rev. Joseph Nickerson extended greetings from the Nuns
and Employees of St. Elizabeth Hospital, where he is chaplain. Gifts
were presented to Dr. Johnson by: George Rentz, on behalf of the Perrysville
Lion’s Club of which he is president; Herman Holder, trustee of the
Perrysville Masonic Lodge; Max Randall, president of the Perrysville
KP Lodge, Mrs. Beverly Estock, Perrysville Chapter, Order of the Eastern
Star, and Forrest Cossey on behalf of the community. Others introduced,
included James Johnson of Danville, brother of Dr. Johnson, and wife;
Mrs. John Hughes of Pontiac, Illinois, sister; Mrs. Ruth Stone, friend
of the family; Dr. E. M. Dill, superintendent of the Indiana Mason’s
Home at Franklin; Ura Seeger, former state senator and Masonic Home
officer; Dr. E. F. Dietrich, president of the Vermilion County (Illinois)
Medical Society, and James A. Waggener, executive secretary, Indiana
Medical Society. Invocation was by the Rev. Chalmer R. Tallman, pastor
of the Christian Union Church, and benediction was by the Rev. James
O. Knight of the Perrysville Methodist Church. Boy Scouts of newly formed
Troop 69 at Perrysville participated in the flag-raising ceremony were
John B. Wilson, Harold Jarred, Kenneth Green, and Bobby Ping with Patty
Lewsader as bugler. The troop also operated a first aid center and lost-and-found
tent. In charge of traffic control and parking of autos was the Cayuga
Civil Defense chapter. Refreshments were served by women’s’ organizations
of the following churches: West Liberty Church of Christ, Perrysville
Methodist, Perrysville Evangelical United Brethren, Stringtown Church
of God, Wabash Chapel EUB, Upper Coal Branch, Rileysburg EUB, and Gessie
EUB.